Los Western Heritage Awards (Premios de la Herencia Western) son sin duda uno de los más importantes premios en el ámbito de la cultura Western norteamericana. Son concedidos desde 1960 por el National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, cuyo objetivo es preservar la memoria y el valioso legado cultural del Oeste Americano.
Estos premios se entregan en diversas disciplinas: literatura, cine, música, televisión…hasta un total de 15 categorías. Algunos de los que han recibido el premio o han contribuido esencialmente a la cultura Western, son personajes de enorme talento y primeras figuras en sus respectivos campos artísticos, tales como John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Clint Eastwood, James Stewart, John Ford, James A. Michener, Tom Selleck, Paul Andrew Hutton, Mary Clearman Blew, Dimitri Tiomkin, o Michael Martin Murphey, por citar sólo algunos de ellos.

Los premios también reciben el nombre de Wangler Awards, porque los trofeos que se entregan son los denominados Bronze Wangler, diseñados por el artista John Free.
La 48 edición de los Premios se concedieron el 17-18 de abril de este año. La próxima cita será el 16-17 de abril de 2010.
Para aquellos que desconocen el alcance y la importancia de estos premios y para los que los valoran en su justa medida, revisemos los ganadores hasta ahora, cronológicamente, en las áreas más importantes. Una forma rápida de acercarnos a la rica cultura del Western y empezar a profundizar en ella, más allá de los estereotipos y prejuicios que aún existen fuera de las fronteras norteamericanas.
En esta primera parte conoceremos los ganadores en novela, libros de no ficción, artículos de revistas, y libros de fotografía exterior.

Ganadores de los Premios de la Herencia Western

Western Heritage Award Winners – Literary – Novel Western

1962 The Shadow Catcher, by James David Horan; Crown Publishers.
1963 Fire on the Mountain, by Edward Abbey; Dial Press.
1964 Honor Thy Father, by Robert A. Roripaugh; William Morrow and Co.
1965 Little Big Man, by Thomas Berger; Dial Press.
1966 Mountain Man, by Vardis Fisher; William Morrow & Co.
1967 They Came to a Valley, by Bill Gulick; Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1968 North to Yesterday, by Robert Flynn; Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
1969 The Buffalo Runners, by Fred Grove; Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1970 The White Man’s Road, by Benjamin Capps; Harper & Row.
1971 Arfive, by A.B. Guthrie; Dodd, Mead and Co.
1972 Pike’s Peak: A Family Saga, by Frank Waters; The Swallow Press, Inc.
1973 Chiricahua, by Will Henry; J.B. Lippincott Co.
1974 The Time It Never Rained, by Elmer Kelton: Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1975 Centennial, by James A. Michener; Random House Publishers.
1978 Buffalo Woman, by Dorothy M. Johnson; Dodd, Mead and Co.
1979 The Good Old Boys, by Elmer Kelton; Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1980 Hanta Yo, by Ruth Beebe Hill; Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1984 The Long Riders’ Winter, by Frank Calkins; Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1985 English Creek, by Ivan Doig, Thomas A. Stewart, Editor-in-Chief; Atheneum Publishers.
1986 Playing Catch-Up, by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.; Houghton Mifflin Co.
1987 Heart of the Country, by Greg Matthews; W. W. Norton and Co.
1988 The Man Who Rode Midnight, by Elmer Kelton; Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1989 The Homesman, by Glendon Swarthout; Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
1990 Broken Eagle, by Chad Oliver; Bantam Books.
1991 Buffalo Girls, by Larry McMurtry; Simon & Schuster.
1992 Set for Life, by Judith Freeman; W. W. Norton and Co.
1993 All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy; Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
1994 Pigs in Heaven, by Barbara Kingsolver; HarperCollins Publishers.
1995 Bluefeather Fellini in the Sacred Realm, by Max Evans; University Press of Colorado
1996 A Sweetness To The Soul, by Jane Kirkpatrick; Questar Publishers.
1997 Out Of Eden, by Kate Lehrer; Harmony Books, New York, NY.
1998 The Mercy Seat, by Rilla Askew; Viking, New York, NY.
1999 Journey of the Dead, by Loren D. Estleman, Forge Books, New York, NY.
2000 The Contract Surgeon, by Dan O’Brien; The Lyons Press, New York, NY.
2001 Gates of the Alamo, by Stephen Harrigan; Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, NY.
2002 The Master Executioner, by Loren D. Estleman; Forge Books, New York, NY.
2003 Moon of Bitter Cold, by Frederick J. Chiaventone; Forge, New York, NY.
2004 Spark on the Prairie: The Trial of the Kiowa Chiefs, by Johnny Boggs; Signet, New York, NY.
2005 And Not to Yield, Randy Lee Eickhoff, Author, Tom Doherty Associates, Publisher.
2006 Buffalo Calf Road Woman, The Story of a Warrior of the Little Bighorn, Rosemary Agonito and Joseph Agonito; The Globe Pequot Press/Two Dot Books.
2007 Broken Trail, Alan Geoffrion, Fulcrum Publishing
2008 Harpsong, Rilla Askew, Author; University of Oklahoma Press.
2009 Jackalope Dreams, Author: Mary Clearman Blew, Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

Literary – NonFiction Book

1962 The American Heritage Book of Indians, by Alvin M. Josephy Jr.; American Heritage Publishing Co.
1963 Where the Old West Stayed Young, by John Rolfe Burroughs; William Morrow & Co.
1964 Furs by Astor, by John Upton Terrell; William Morrow & Co.
1965 Standing Up Country, by C. Gregory Crampton; Alfred A. Knopf, Inc
1966 The American Heritage History of the Great West, by Alvin M. Josephy Jr.; American Heritage Publishing Co.
1967 Gold Fever, by George W. Groh; William Morrow & Co.
1968 America’s Western Frontiers, by John Arkas Hawgood; Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
1969 Tie:
The Cattle Towns, by Robert R. Dykstra; Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
The Enduring Navaho, by Laura Gilpin; University of Texas Press.
1970 The Great Platte River Road, by Merrill J. Mattes; Nebraska State Historical Society.
1971 The Great Range Wars, by Harry Sinclair Drago; Dodd, Mead & Co
1972 North America Divided: The Mexican War, by Odie B. Faulk and Seymour V. Connor; Oxford University Press.
1973 The Time of the Buffalo, by Tom McHugh; Alfred A. Knopf, Inc
1974 Bell Ranch As I Knew It, by George F. Ellis; The Lowell Press.
Will Rogers, His Life and Times, by Richard M. Ketchum; American Heritage Publishing Co.
Owyhee Trails, by Mike Hanley and Ellis Lucia; Caxton Printers.
Colorado Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring, by David Muench and N. Scott Mornaday; Rand McNally and Co
1975 The Warren Wagontrain Raid, by Benjamin Capps; Dial Press.
Idaho: A Pictorial Overview, by Robert O. Beatty; Idaho First National Bank, Boise.
Born Grown, by Roy P. Stewart; Fidelity Bank, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Colonel Greene and the Copper Skyrocket, by C.L. Sonnichsen; University of Arizona Press.
1976 Fifty Great Western illustrators, by Jeff C. Dykes; Northland Press.
Charles F. Lummis: The Man and His West, by Turbese Lummis Fiske and Keith Butte’s Memory Book, by Don James; Caxton Printers.
1978 Geronimo: The Man, His Time, his Place, by Angie Debo; University of Oklahoma Press.
Tim McCoy Remembers the West, by Time McCoy and Ronald McCoy; Doubleday & Co., Inc.
1979 Buffalo Bill: His Family, Friends, Fame, Failures and Fortunes, by Nelle Snyder Yost; Swallow Press, Inc
1980 The Plains Across, by John D. Unruh Jr.; University of Illinois Press
1981 Bartlett Richards: Nebraska Sandhills Cattleman, by Bartlett Richard.
Gold Dust; Saga of the Forty-Niners, by Donald Jackson.
1982 Saddles, by Russell H. Beatie; University of Oklahoma Press
Cowboy Culture: A Saga of Five Centuries, by David Dary, Alfred A. Knopf
1983 A Passion for Freedom: The Life of Sharlot Hall, by Margaret Maxwell; University of Arizona Press.
A Will Rogers Treasury: Reflections and Observations.
1984 Atlas of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, by Gary E. Moulton, Editor; University of Nebraska Press.
1985 The Great Father, by Francis Paul Prucha; University of Nebraska Press
1986 Bob Sharp’s Cattle Country, by Robert L. Sharp; University of Arizona
1987 The Mythic West in Twentieth Century America, by Robert G. Athearn; University Press of Kansas.
1988 High Noon in Lincoln: Violence on the Western Frontier, by Robert Marshall Utley; University of New Mexico Press.
1989 Cavalier in Buckskin: Geaorge Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier, by Robert Marshall Utley; University of Oklahoma Press.
1990 Growing Up With the Country, by Elliot West; University of New Mexico Press.
1991 Cowboys of the Americas, by Richard W. Slatta; Yale University Press.
1992 «It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own»: A New History of the American West, by Richard White; University of Oklahoma Press.
1993 The Spanish Frontier in North America, by David J. Weber; Yale University Press.
1994 North American Cattle-Ranching Frontiers, by Terry G. Jordan; University of New Mexico Press.
1995 The Oxford History of the American West, edited by Clyde A. Milner II, Carol A. O’Connor, and Martha A. Sandweiss; Oxford University Press.
1996 The Way To The West, by Elliott West; The University of New Mexico Press.
1997 Re-Imagining The Modern American West: A Century of Fiction, History, and Art, by Richard W. Etulain; the University of Arizona Press
1998 The Hunter’s Game, by Louis S. Warren; Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
1999 The New Encyclopedia of the American West, Edited by Howard Roberts Lamar; Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
2000 The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West, by Michael Wallis; St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY.
2001 The American West: A New Interpretive History, by Rovert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher; Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
2002 Buffalo for the Broken Heart, by Dan O’Brien; Random House, New York, NY.
2003 Singing in the Saddle, Douglas B. Green; The Country Music Foundation Press and Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville, TN.
2004 American Massacre, Sally Denton, Alfred A. Knopf.
2005 The Oregon Trail: An American Saga, David Dary, Author. Alfred A. Knopf, Publisher.
2006 Charlie Siringo’s West by Howard Lamar; University of New Mexico Press, Publisher.
2007 The Worst hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, Timothy Egan, Houghton Miflin Company
2008 For the Love of a Horse, Max Evans, Author; University of New Mexico Press.
2009 The North American Journals of Prince Maximilian of Weid, Vol. 1Author: Marsha V. Gallagher, Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Magazine Articles

1961 The Old Chisholm Trail, by W. Bruce Bell; Kiwanis Magazine
1962 The Look of the Last Frontier, by Mari Sandoz; American Heritage.
1963 The Prairie Schooner Got Them There, by George R. Stewart; American Heritage.
1964 Nine Years Among the Indians, by Herman Lehmann; Frontier Times.
1965 Titans of Western Art, by J. Frank Dobie; The Amercian Scene.
1966 How Lost Was Zebulon Pike, by Donald Dean Jackson; American Heritage.
1967 The Red Man’s Last Struggle, by Jack Guinn; Empire Magazine, Denver Post.
1968 The Snows of Rimrock Ridge, by Carolyn Woirhaye; The Farm Quarterly.
1969 W. R. Leigh: The Artist’s Studio Collection, by Donnie D. Good; The American Scene.
1971 Cattle, Guns and Cowboys, by James Edsall Serven, Arizona Highways.
1970 Bennett Howell’s Cow Country, by May Howell Dobson; Frontier Times.
1972 Echoes of the Little Big Horn, by David Humphreys Miller; American Heritage.
1973 Horses of the West, by james Edsall Serven; Arizona Highways.
1974 40 Years Gatherins, by Spike Van Cleve; The Dude Rancher.
1975 George Humphreys, Half Century with 6666, by James R. Jennings; Quarter Horse Journal.
1976 The Pioneer Woman: Image in Bronze, by Patricia Janis Broder; American Art Review.
1978 Where the Cowboys Hunkered Down, by John L. Sinclair; New Mexico Magazine.
1979 The Farther Continet of James Clyman, by Richard Rhodes; American Heritage
1980 Glory Days in Medora, text by David McCullough; photographs by Tomas Sennett; GEO Magazine.
1981 The King Ranch, The Last Empire, by William Broyles Jr.; Texas Monthly.
1982 Buffalo Bill and the Enduring West, by Alice J. Hall; National Geographic.
1983 Saga of an American Ranch, by Patricia Nell Warren; Reader’s Digest.
1984 Eight Decades a Cowboy, by Tom Blasingame; The Quarter Horse Journal.
1985 Showdown at Hollywood Park, by Max Evans; Southern Horseman Magazine.
1986 Santa Rita del Cobre, by John L. Sinclair; New Mexico Magazine.
1987 The Remodeling of Geronimo, by C. L. Sonnichsen; Arizona Highways.
1988 Fairs, Expositions, and the Changing Image of Southwestern Indians 1976-1904, by Robert A. Trennart; New Mexico Historical Review.
1989 Blizzard, by E. N. Coons; American Heritage.
1990 Powder River Country, by Oakley Hall; American Heritage.
1991 Yellowstone Kelly, by Jerry Keenan; Montana The of Western History.
1992 Strange and Benevolent Monsters, by Kathryn Marshall; American Way Magazine.
1993 Western Art Museums: A Question of Style or Content, by Peter H. Hassrick; Montana The Magazine of Western History.
1994 Charlie’s Hidden Agenda, by Raphael Cristy; Montana The Magazine of Western History.
1995 The Twilight of the Texas Rangers, by Robert Draper; Texas Monthly.
1996 Showdown At the Hollywood Corral, by Paul Andrew Hutton; Montana The Magazine of Western History.
1997 Lakota Noon At The Greasy Grass, by Greg Michno; Wild West Magazine, Cowles History Group, Leesburg, Virginia.
1998 When The Buffalo Roamed, by Dan L. Flores; Wild West Magazine, Cowles History Group, Leesburg, Virginia.
1999 T. R. Takes Charge, by Paul Andrew Hutton; American History, Harrisburg, PA.
2000 Halloween Hermit, by Lou Dean; Guideposts, New York, NY.
2001 The Gillette Brothers, by Renee Kientz; Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX.
2002 What Happened at Mountain Meadows?, by Sally Denton; American Heritage, New York, NY.
2003 Tales of the Texas Rangers, by Robert Utley; American Heritage Magazine, New York, NY.
2004 The Water Crisis Continues, Paul A. Canada, The Paint Horse Journal, American Paint Horse Association.
2005 «It was but a Small Affair:» The Battle of the Alamo, Paul Andrew Hutton, Author. Wild West, Publisher.
2006 Tragedy at Red Cloud Agency: The Surrender, Confinement, and Death of Crazy Horse by Jeffrey V. Pearson; Montana – The Magazine of Western History.
2007 «Six Days Ablaze», John R. Erickson, American Cowboy Magazine
2008 «Silver Screen Desperado: Billy the Kid in the Movies»; Paul Hutton, Author; New Mexico Historical Review.
2009 Bringing Home All the Pretty Horses, Author: Dan Flores, , Publisher: Montana, The Magazine of Western History

Outstanding Photography Book

2005 Four Corners, Debra Bloomfield, University of New Mexico Press
2006 Revealing Character: Texas Tintypes, Robb Kendrick, Bright Sky Press
2007 Lasting Light – 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography, Stephen Trimble, Northland Publishing
2008 Eye of the West, Nancy Wood, Author; University of New Mexico Press.
2009 American Farmer, The Heart of Our Country, Photographer: Paul Mobley, Author: Katrina Fried, Publisher: Welcome Books